At Wheel Noodle that has just newly opened on Jalan Market, eating noodles may not be the same again when noodles are served in bite-sized portions, in old-fashioned bowls with rooster images. In fact, Wheel Noodle is calling its noodles “Dong Dong Noodles”, as in the olden days, noodles are sold on bicycles with vendors making “dong dong” sounds by knocking metal spatula on the wok to attract more customers.
The white umbrellas in mid air reminds me of a similar concept used in KL Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC); except that Wheel Noodle uses white ones instead of multi-colored ones. You won’t see this from the main road of Jalan Market, but on the “concubine lane” that’s parallel to the street.
It is the 1981 Guest House you would see on Jalan Market. 1981 Guest House’s Cafe is interconnected to Wheel Noodle that’s right behind it.
You may sit at 1981’s cafe, or cut across to Wheel Noodle @TSG. Whichever you choose to sit, same menu is offered (at the moment; not sure if 1981 cafe might venture out into a different menu).
Wheel Noodle’s interior exudes a mood of the bygone days with the tiny wooden tables and it-could-not-be-any-simpler stools.
At the same time it has a cheerful vibe with this wall of potted flowers. Flowers are plastic but joyful enough.
You can read about Ah Lim and Dong Dong Noodles’ story on this wall.
And now the noodles. There are only two kinds to choose from, fish noodles and beef noodles (RM 1.90 per bowl). Talk about downsizing the menu to help the patrons decide faster !
The beef noodles are paired with “lai fun” (or laksa noodles) and immersed in a lightly sourish soup with salted vegetable, topped with bean sprouts, beef and beef meat ball. Lai fun is good, texture of meat is variable with the one from the first bowl being a bit tougher than the one from the second. Meat ball is a bit mushy and no surprising texture.
The fish noodles are paired with “dong fun” (mung bean noodles), topped with fish ball, bean sprouts and youtiao in a peppery broth with “dong cai” (winter vegetables). It’s a bit like “hor hee” actually.
I ate four bowls of these noodles ! The portions are tiny; I finished each bowl in two bites. If I really tried, I could have gulped the whole thing in one bite.
The portions are actually made intentionally small to see how many bowls you can eat. Fun, but the workers are going to have a hell of a time washing the bowls if one person eats a minimum of 4 bowls !
The concept is quite cute, eating noodles from a tiny bowl and competing with your friends or family to see who eats noodles from the most bowls. The only thing though is that the noodles are a bit heavy on MSG and the beef and meat ball could have been better.
More Info
Wheel Noodle Facebook Page
Address : 26 Jalan Market, 30,000 Ipoh, Perak
Opening Hours : Tues – Sun 8.00 am 2.30 pm, 6 pm – 9 pm.
Always Travelicious ! 
How quaint to be serving such miniature portions! Would take some getting used to.
There’s a yearning for nostalgia among the next generation, isn’t there? I’m seeing more references to an older Malaysia at every corner.
I’m quite a big, deep bowl kind of person because I imagine it would be too easy for the food to get cold in smaller bowls in shallower servings and I love my noodles piping hot. Cute but I would be annoyed with all the table clutter too.
Old is now the trend. Old is now the new 🙂 the food didn’t get too cold that fast as you could finish all before it has any chance to get cold. It is quite cute indeed and it’s dillusionally affordable at Rm1.90 per small bowl !
Even at RM1.90 per bowl is still expensive for some. Just try multiplying the total sum of bowls consumed with the figured mentioned and it will come to an enormous figure, still without any drinks, and multiply by the number of persons at your table. Go figure it out yourself-lah!!!!!!!
You are right. I ate 4 bowls so that’s about RM 8, I am sure a man would be able to eat more than that, perhaps 8 bowls which makes it about RM 16… not a pretty price for simple noodles !
Well … I guess most of the profits do indeed goes to the person who clears and wash the bowls after each gluttonous customer finishes their bowls. Jack Sprat would even lick the bowls clean and that saves the duty of the bowl-washer’s work, otherwise, those bowl-washers will for the whole day pull a long-face in-front of his/her boss and the boss’ customers.
Anyway, for me, I would not think of eating here. TOOOOOO EXPENSIVE-lah!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just imagine if the girlfriend you got now is a biiiiiiiiiiiigggg-eater?????????? Ha! Ha! Ha! Jokes aside. Pardon the pun???????